Rent prices hit a record high in April, rising 10% year-over-year.

Rent prices in Spain rose 10% year-on-year in April , reaching €14.3 per square meter , a figure that represents a "historical record" for rental income in Spain, according to the latest price report published by Idealista . Furthermore, prices have grown by 3.1% in the last three months , while in the last month the increase was 1.7% .

It's worth noting that the statistics used by the real estate portal to compile its price index eliminate atypical listings and those with off-market prices, as well as properties that, it believes, have been in its databases for a long time without generating user interaction, including single-family homes and chalets.

The data reflects that the rise in rental prices continues, following increases that began after the COVID-19 pandemic. As the real estate portal asserts, rents in the main markets of our country have been "completely bullish."

In this sense, on the first Saturday of last April, thousands of people took to the streets in 40 Spanish cities to protest against "the housing business."

Finding a property to rent at a "reasonable" price is becoming increasingly difficult. The fact that rents have risen in all Spanish regions since April of last year doesn't make the search any easier.

By region, La Rioja leads the increases (13.2%), followed by Asturias (12.6%), the Community of Madrid (12.3%), the Valencian Community (11.9%), Aragon (11.8%), Catalonia (11%), Castilla-La Mancha (11%), and Andalusia (10.6%). Below the national average are the increases in Castilla y León (9.7%), the Region of Murcia (9.4%), Extremadura (7.8%), the Balearic Islands (7.4%), Galicia and the Canary Islands (7.2% in both cases), Navarre (3.5%), Cantabria (6.2%), and the Basque Country (7.1%).

Madrid and the Balearic Islands are the regions with the highest prices per square meter, at €19.5/m2 and €19.1/m2, respectively. They are closely followed by Catalonia (€18.7/m2), the Canary Islands (€14.6/m2), and the Basque Country (€14.5/m2). This is in contrast to Extremadura (€7/m2) and Castilla-La Mancha (€7.7/m2), which are the most affordable regions.

Rent prices have risen in 49 of Spain's 50 provinces over the past year, with the sole exception of Lérida, where they fell by 1.8%. The largest increases were seen in Segovia (14.4%), Teruel (14.3%), Valencia (13.3%), La Rioja (13.2%), and Ávila (12.9%). On the other hand, Guipúzcoa (1.4%), Pontevedra (3.4%), and Navarra (3.5%) are the provinces with the smallest increases.

€20.3 is the price paid per square meter in the most expensive province in Spain to rent a home: Barcelona . Barcelona surpasses Madrid (€19.5/m2), the Balearic Islands (€19.1/m2), and Guipúzcoa (€16/m2). Málaga follows with €15.9/m2, along with Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, both with €14.6/m2. Jaén (€6.2/m2), Ciudad Real (€6.7/m2), and Zamora (€6.8/m2), on the other hand, are the most affordable provinces.

Despite the 6.4% drop in rental prices in Barcelona recorded during the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of that same year, the Catalan city once again ranks as the capital with the highest rents, with a price of 23.8 euros per square meter .

Madrid and San Sebastián follow, with 21.4 and 18 euros per square meter, respectively. Behind them are Palma (17.3 euros), Valencia (15.5 euros), Málaga (15.4 euros), and Bilbao (15 euros). At the other end of the spectrum are Zamora and Ourense, with 7.1 and 7.4 euros per square meter, the capitals with the most affordable rents.

Furthermore, more than fifty Spanish capitals have reported higher rents than those recorded in April 2024 , with the exception of Lleida, where they decreased by 2.3% year-on-year. The data compiled for Idealista's latest price report shows the sharpest increase in Castellón de la Plana, where landlords' expectations rose by 16.2%, followed by increases in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (15.2%), Ávila (14.9%), Ciudad Real, and Segovia (13.8% in both cases).